I’ve always been skeptical of AR and VR glasses. The tech is undeniably cool—especially with devices like the Vision Pro absolutely blowing me away —but the bulky, invasive form factors have always made them feel more like toys and demo machines rather than practical tools. Even with sleeker options like the Meta Ray-Bans, you still deal with oversized frames and those cameras. So when I came across the Even Realities G1 at CES and tried them on, I was in absolute awe. Let me tell you why.
I have been wearing the Even Realities G1 every day for two weeks. I have been around a bunch of people while wearing these glasses, and my favorite aspect of them so far is that almost no one knew they were smart glasses. That is what originally drew me to them. It was the look, the high-quality materials, and the fact that they looked like a well-made pair of everyday glasses.
Quick rundown
The best way to describe what these glasses are is a modern-day pager and a heads-up display (HUD) that lives in your glasses lenses. Of course, it is much more than that, but that is the idea. They do just enough for them to 100% be considered smart glasses but they aren’t trying to replace anything. They arent trying to be a camera, or a phone, or headphones. They are there to give you the information you need in a timely manner with some awesome additional features that really make you understand why these glasses get so much hype.
When it comes to the specs of these glasses it has everything you need:
- Micro-OLED display (One on each lens)
- Holistic Adaptive Optical System or HAOS, which is the waveguide display tech used
- Green monochrome display
- 1000 nit brightness
- 20Hz refresh rate
- 25-degree field of view
- 640×200 resolution
- Two microphones
- Ambient brightness control
- 1.5 day battery life and up to 6 days with charging case
- relies 100% on Bluetooth
- Touch-sensitive controls
- Made of magnesium and aluminum
All this is packed into glasses that weigh less than 40g. For context, the average glasses in the US weigh about 28g, and the Meta Raybans are 50g. Again, I have worn these for full 8-12 hour days, and to me, they feel like normal glasses, especially because most of the tech is actually behind your ears.
Since these look so normal and there are no cameras or speakers, a lot of people are probably wondering what it does. Well, prepare to be impressed.
Dashboard & notifications
When you just have the glasses on, and you are looking right in front of you, you see nothing. They act like low-hue blue light glasses. If someone looks at you at just the right angle, you can see two small rectangles on the lenses, but there is no text or even tech on them. They look like a bifocal glasses situation. But when you tilt your head up, you activate the Dashboard and begin to see just how cool these are.
All the content you view will be in this green monochrome look. There is no other color. But they do a great job of showing text and some imagery like maps, stocks, and other icons. Your dashboard shows you things like the time, temperature outside, number of notifications, and the next calendar event. Then, you have the option to show either quick notes, news, stocks or a live view of your current location on a map. In terms of how big it is, it ends up being about a 2-foot by 1-foot dashboard that is 5 feet away. You can also customize how close or far all the content is via the app. It’s tough to show it off nicely but below you can get an idea of the dashboard.
The most practical implementation has to be notifications. In the app you can decide which notifications you let come through, if you want them to directly push to your lenses or just show in the dashboard and how long you want them displayed. At first, I had a bunch of my apps turned onto this, but within a few days, I cut it down to just my essentials like my messages, calls, and a few others. So notifications will come in real time and show up right on your lenses, even without looking up and activating the dashboard. I like this because if I am with someone, I don’t need to break eye contact or bring my watch up to see a notification. It literally pops up in front of you, and the person across from you has no idea.
One thing to note: as of now, you cannot take action on these notifications aside from swiping them away. You can answer them from the glasses. These are pure to be notified; that’s why I use the pager as an analogy. If you want to respond, you do have to use your phone.
Other main features
There are five other core features that really help elevate the use cases of the Even Realities G1.
Quick Note & transcribe
This one is very self-explanatory. At the end of each temple, the tip is where all the battery, tech, and inputs live. There are these touch-sensitive nubs that activate certain functions. If you tap down and hold on the right temple tip, it activates a quick note. You can speak anything and then it saves itself into the Even Realities App. It saves as text and as a voice recording. You can then do whatever you need to with that text.
Translation
This feature is also very helpful. It will translate speech into text in real time. This will work with 22 different languages, with more coming. Basically, you turn on the translation feature, and you pick the language that is being translated into another language. Then, you begin to have a conversation, and it will translate the speech into text right on the lenses. I have only really demoed this feature and haven’t had the need to use it in the real world. But I will be going to Paris next month, and I will be using this feature. So stay tuned!
Navigate
This feature is awesome because it shows you how far you can push a green monochromatic theme visually. The Navigate feature is made purely for walking and biking navigation. You go through the Even Realities App to pinpoint your destination. I tested about 30 different locations, and they all showed. Sometimes, when you use something other than Apple or Google Maps, some of the locations are missing. But from what I tested, it’s all there. Once you enter the destination, it will navigate you with turn-by-turn directions on the lenses. It tells you how long it will take, your speed and the distance while also showing a map. Below is how it roughly looks. Again its tough to capture but when you use it, it is extremely crisp. There is no pixelation or blur.
Teleprompt
This feature is what sold me personally. As someone who makes YouTube videos for a living, I find that having a teleprompter that lives on your glasses is an insane concept. You load up your script or text into the teleprompter section of the app; then, it will just appear on the lenses. Since there are mics on there, the speed of the text will be adjusted based on how fast you are reading it. The people watching will not be able to tell that you have a teleprompter on your glasses at all. So, if you have any use case or need for a teleprompter, this feature alone could sell you on it.
Even AI
Can you really have smart glasses without an AI assistant? These days, the answer is no, so even realities have their own AI assistant. It’s technically still in beta, but it’s 100% usable. You have the option to use Perplexity or ChatGPT as the AI engine. You enable the AI assistant by pressing and holding the left temple and speaking what you need. It does everything an AI assistant would do, but again, since there are no speakers, it gives the answer via text on the lenses. Within 3-6 seconds, it will come up with an answer. It will also save all of your prompts and conversations in the app as well if you ever need to go back to them.
Final thoughts
The way I look at these, they are glasses that add just enough tech to make them smart and useful, as opposed to most smart glasses, which essentially try to put the usefulness of a phone or assistant into glasses. If these were just regular glasses, I would purchase them just for the look and build quality. But the fact that they have this futuristic display as well as some other useful features is what brings the wow factor. For me, I want my tech to fit around my life and not make me change anything, and that is what these do. You can walk around without being the center of attention, you don’t have to announce to people that you might be on video or audio recorded, they are just there and can be activated when you need it.
As always, there is room for improvement. Perhaps adding the ability to quickly respond to a text via voice or adding a bit more sensitivity to the input methods, also improving responsiveness when it comes to physically interacting with the product. But I truly do think this is the future in terms of glasses as wearable assistants. Apple should take a page out of this book.
Pricing and availability
The Even Realities G1 comes in two different variations: the G1A, which is the circular look that I have, and the G1B, which has a more squared-off and familiar look. The G1A comes in three different color options, and the G1B comes in two colors. These start at $599, so they are not the cheapest but these are not meant. To compete with the $300 meta ray bans, they are in their own category, and I haven’t seen much else like this. If you need a prescription, they support that for an additional $149. They are available today for purchase.
If you are looking for the least intrusive wearable glasses tech that still provides value, then these are going to be for you.
Let me know what you think. Are these something you would wear? What do you need out of a pair of smart glasses? Are you in the market for one? Do you think Apple should do something for this product category?
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